A newly appointed Iranian governor was slapped on stage by an official who walked over to him during an event over the weekend.
Zeinolabedin Khorram, the new governor of East Azerbaijan province, was on stage delivering a speech at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in the northeastern city of Tabriz when the incident took place.
A video posted online by Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency shows a man calmly walking up to Khorram, slapping him in the face and then shoving him.
Immediately, security guards ran toward the offender, pulling him off stage.
The embarrassing scene was witnessed by the country’s Interior Minister, representatives of Ayatollah Khamenei’s office, and other state officials.
The semi-official news agency Tasnim identified the offender as Ayoub Alizadeh, a member of the country’s armed forces.
In an interview with state-run television IRIB, the provincial governor said he did not know the offender personally.
